Nike SB Dunk Low 'Heineken'

A beer bottle on a skate shoe

Nike SB was barely a year old in 2003. The division had launched in 2002 by reworking the Dunk, a 1980s basketball shoe, for skateboarders, and it had quickly learned that a story sold a shoe. Early SB Dunks borrowed freely from the world around them, and as one longtime writer put it, 'Most of them were not officially licensed like they are these days.'

The most famous of those borrowings is this one. Nike's archive lists it as the Dunk Low Pro SB 'Classic Green,' in Classic Green/Black-White-Red, and describes it only obliquely: 'the Dutch beer brand that inspired this Dunk Low SB proved to be more than a color play.' Collectors never used the official name. From the start it was the 'Heineken.'

The reference was obvious to anyone who had seen a Heineken bottle. The brewer traces its roots to February 15, 1864, when Gerard Adriaan Heineken bought the De Hooiberg brewery in Amsterdam; its lager has been brewed mainly at Zoeterwoude in the Netherlands since 1975. The shoe copied the bottle's green and white, the red accents of the label and, most pointedly, the red star.

How to read the shoe

The base is white leather with green overlays; sources describe the green as suede or nubuck. The Swoosh is black suede. The laces are red, the tongue and heel branding are red, and the green and white of the upper repeat on the sole unit, with a green midsole and a white outsole.

The detail that made the shoe infamous sits on the lateral heel: an embroidered red star, bordered in a lighter thread, that sale descriptions call 'incredibly close to the Heineken label.' It is the part of the design most often singled out as the clear nod to the brewer.

The style code is 304292 302: the same 304292 model number carried by other Dunk Low Pro SBs of the era, with 302 as the color code. The shoe came in Nike SB's silver box.

The shoe the brewer did not want

The shoe reached skate shops in 2003 and, by most accounts, was pulled soon after. One veteran writer recalled that it 'hit the shelves in 2003 at skate shops' and 'was promptly pulled, but not before some people could purchase it. Word has it that the brewer sent Nike a cease and desist over the shoes.' An auction description from 2024 states flatly that a cease-and-desist order resulted in the shoes being pulled from shelves.

Nike has never laid out the details. Its archive refers only to 'legal issues and rumors of low production counts,' and a 2022 auction catalog says that 'due to alleged legal issues between Nike SB and Heineken, the production of these pairs was halted and the colorway never saw a wide release.' Some accounts go further and say the brewer was upset that Nike had not contacted it before production, and that the beer company still asks for online listings that use its name to be taken down. Those claims come from secondhand reporting and could not be confirmed with either company.

Even the release date is disputed. Nike SB's own archive gives June 2003. Several release databases give March 5, 2003, one gives March 4, and one older page gives May 5, 2003. One list goes as far as saying the pair 'was never actually released,' which Nike's archive, listing a release date, does not support.

From a pulled shoe to a grail

Scarcity and a story did the rest. 'Legal issues and rumors of low production counts only fueled collector's thirst for this iconic green release,' Nike's archive says. A May 2026 ranking of the 30 best SB Dunks put it at No. 8, and of all its placements, readers voting on that list agreed with this one the most; the writer remembered seeing people wear them online and thinking, 'This is what it's all about,' and noted that in the 1990s Heineken 'was the beer of East Coast hip-hop and skateboarding.' Another editorial list ranks it No. 12 among the greatest Dunks.

The colorway also became part of the SB vocabulary. When Nike SB built its 2007 'What the Dunk' from the panels of famous earlier colorways, the Heineken was one of the classics included.

Its fame made it a magnet for rumor. In late 2022 word spread that a 'Heineken 2.0' would release for the shoe's 20th anniversary. Nike SB answered with a two-word comment on a social media post claiming a 2023 release: 'Not SB.' The green-and-white Dunk that eventually surfaced was an unrelated 'Celtics' colorway from Nike's sportswear line.

Originals keep appearing at auction. A size 10.5 pair was offered in an online auction in Hong Kong in April 2022 for Nike SB's 20th anniversary, with an estimate given only in Hong Kong dollars, and a size 8.5 pair sold at auction in June 2024; neither result was published. As of October 2026 a sneaker resale shop listed pairs from about $4,049.

The numbers

Style code

304292 302

Colorway

Classic Green/Black-White-Red

Release

June 2003 per Nike SB's archive; March 5, 2003, per several release databases

Retail price

$65

Release type

Nike SB accounts only; Silver Box; pulled from shelves

Production

Not published; Nike cites 'rumors of low production counts'

Timeline

1. Feb 15, 1864

   Gerard Adriaan Heineken buys the De Hooiberg brewery in Amsterdam, the start of the Heineken brand.

2. 1975

   Most Heineken-brand beer begins to be brewed at Zoeterwoude in the Netherlands.

3. 2002

   Nike SB launches with four Dunk colorways for its pro team.

4. Mar 5, 2003

   Release date given by several release databases for the Dunk Low Pro SB 'Heineken.'

5. Jun 2003

   Release date given by Nike SB's own archive for the 'Classic Green,' in the Silver Box.

6. 2003

   The shoe is pulled from shelves after the brewer reportedly objects; accounts describe a cease-and-desist.

7. Oct 2007

   The Heineken colorway is one of the classics mashed together on the Nike SB 'What the Dunk.'

8. Apr 24, 2022

   A size 10.5 pair's lot closes in Nike SB's 20th-anniversary online auction in Hong Kong; the result was not published.

9. Dec 2022

   Rumors begin circulating of a 'Heineken 2.0' reissue for the shoe's 20th anniversary.

10. Feb 2023

    Nike SB dismisses the reissue rumor with the comment 'Not SB.'

11. Jun 27, 2024

    A size 8.5 pair sells at auction; the price was not published.

12. May 15, 2026

    A ranking of the 30 best SB Dunks places the Heineken at No. 8.

The world in 2003

• Feb 1, 2003

  The Space Shuttle Columbia breaks apart during reentry over Texas, killing all seven astronauts.

• Mar 20, 2003

  The Iraq War begins with the invasion of Iraq by the United States and allied forces.

• Apr 14, 2003

  The Human Genome Project is completed.

• Apr 28, 2003

  Apple's iTunes Store launches.

• Jul 5, 2003

  The World Health Organization declares SARS contained.

• Aug 14, 2003

  The Northeast blackout cuts power to more than 50 million people in the United States and Canada.

• Oct 24, 2003

  Concorde makes its last commercial flight.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Nike SB Dunk Low 'Heineken' is number 33 of 100 in the sneakers entries of the FLOAT 100. 22 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (49 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Nike has never officially called it the 'Heineken'; its archive name is 'Classic Green.'
• When reissue rumors spread in 2023, Nike SB shut them down with just two words: 'Not SB.'
• The embroidered red star on the heel is the detail most often cited as the giveaway.
• Its colors were one of the classic SB colorways stitched into the 2007 'What the Dunk.'
• Of every placement in a 2026 ranking of the best SB Dunks, its No. 8 spot drew the most reader agreement.
• One writer's recollection: in the 1990s, Heineken 'was the beer of East Coast hip-hop and skateboarding.'